Gamer 2 Player: Week Two

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Gamer 2 Player: Week Two

Wed, Oct 15, 2008

A while back, we featured an announcement from Gamers To Players (G2P), a new instructional documentary, which made an interesting claim: This DVD boasts the ability to “transform gamers into real guitarists.” Join us as we put this claim to the test, attempting to use the DVD’s instructions to turn a Rock Band/Guitar Hero devotee into a real-life shredder. Will the methods work, or will the DVD turn out to be a cheap cash-in? Week two of Gamer 2 Player awaits you, after the break.

It's tough to practice as much as I'd like while my hand strength is still so woefully inadequate. When I set up to practice, it's usually only 15-20 minutes later that I have to stop because my left hand is cramping, and aching, and generally twisting into a misshapen claw. I think I ought to go invest in one of those squeezy hand-exercising things. There's a lot about playing an actual guitar that one doesn't appreciate when playing Rock Band, and hand strength -- and hand flexibility -- are definitely on the list. That flexibility part goes double for bringing on the cramps: I'm starting to wonder if my guitar is too big, or my hands are too girly and small, but for the life of me, I cannot comfortably perform G2P's lessons on the 5th and 6th strings.

By now, I've gotten through the "Easy" bonus lessons several times over. I can play those without too much trouble anymore, so at least there's some progress happening. Now, however, I'm stymied about halfway through the "Medium" lessons -- lessons 3 and 5, specifically. As I would when playing Rock Band or Guitar Hero, I want to be able to handle the Medium level before I try anything "Hard" or worse, including both the lessons and the documentary, so I'm sticking with these lessons until I can play them reliably. I fear, though, that that's not an ability that will come easily.

The lesson in question wants me to keep my index finger planted on the 6th string, 1st fret, and while doing so, manage my pinky on and off of the 5th string, 4th fret. I simply can't do it. My fingers won't go that far. The only way I can do this lesson is to slide my hand back and forth on the neck, which defeats the purpose of the lesson -- that you can hold down lower frets while playing higher ones. This has also pointed out to me the other thing I need in order to play a real guitar, and that's better position memory.

Playing Rock Band, you really fail to appreciate the complexity demanded by an actual stringed instrument. I've played enough of the game that I never have to actually look at the guitar, and why would you? There's a mere five buttons and only a single string to pick. If your right hand is on the strum bar, you're fine, and once you've gotten used to sliding your left hand a little bit to manage the fifth fret button, you can concentrate on the screen. Bringing multiple strings into the equation, on a real guitar, I don't know where to keep my eyes anymore. If I watch my left hand, my pick starts drifting onto the wrong string -- and, naturally, if I turn my attention to my right hand, my fingers start landing on the wrong strings and the wrong frets. Hell, I still can't reliably pick the correct string even when I'm looking right at it. This isn't G2P's fault, of course; these are motor controls I'll have to develop on my own with time and practice. Still, this is yet another Gaming to Playing difference that I wish had been covered a little more.

I knew this would be a long process when I got into it; I didn't expect G2P to have me playing overnight. What I am noticing, though, is that while I'm slowly learning how to play a real guitar, learning these lessons is also dramatically changing how I play Rock Band. In some ways, this is good -- my strumming has dramatically improved. I used to only use up-and-down strokes when absolutely necessary; I would frequently cheat my way through double or triple notes by hammering out a quick series of down-only strokes. I'm a lot better now about managing rapid notes through smooth, rhythmic strumming motions, and it's a lot less tiring on the arm.

On the other hand, it's been hell on my fret hand. I find myself trying to hold the buttons the way I'd hold actual strings -- pressing directly, rather than simply laying across. This, being a far different method than the one I'm used to, is completely killing my performance. It's ironic -- knowing the real way to play a guitar is ruining my ability to play the fake one. I'm doing worse because I'm trying to do it right.

This is going to take a long time.

DVD, G2P, Gamers to Players, Guitar, Guitar Hero, Instructional Video, Lessons, Music, Music Game, Review, Rock Band

This post was written by:

Jesse Henning - who has written 474 posts on GameCyte.

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1 Comments For This Post

Steve B Says:
December 14th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Hey Jesse,
How's the G2P going? I saw this DVD in a music store yesterday and thought "What a great idea!" but of course went to the Web to check out reviews first before plunking down the cash.

I've often thought that game platforms would be a great way to teach "real guitar" but then it hit me that developing a teaching/playing system would probably require a few million in development costs and that's probably why it didn't exist yet. (but see http://www.guitarschool.net/ for a 3D virtual guitar skills teacher -- we're getting there). It's $20/mo and a ridiculously hard sell, so I'm scared to try it.

Anyway the real reason I'm posting here is because you keep saying how painful it is to play. I'm not an expert, but have been taking guitar lessons the old fashioned way (with a human!) for about a year. Hand and arm stress is part of the experience, but I've found that every time something hurts (once you build up callouses that is), then you're doing it wrong and ought to back off and figure out a way not to hurt rather than repeating and repeating and injuring yourself further.

How's the guitar project going, anyway, (this post is a few months old now)?

-Steve

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